Starfish King
Brief Description Starfish King, AKA Sigmund Aquarius, is the ex-prince of Atlantis, a merman who gained legs in order to escape his feared, possibly abusive father, the King. He became an Omega Squad member once he was on land, befriending Beezus Monroe II, otherwise known as King Bee. Appearance Starfish King is about 6 feet tall with bright red hair and pale skin and green eyes. He's sixteen years old, with a thin build, but built from work. Powers Starfish King has powers that control water, manipulating anything from rain to tidal waves at will. He does not have to be around water in order for his power to work, and he can even manipulate water in humans, plants and animals. He can also communicate with marine animals, from the colossal squid to the tiniest dinoflagellate. Family Starfish King is the oldest and only son of King Aquarius and Queen Oceania. He has one younger sister named Aleeya. Story Starfish King was the heir to the throne of Atlantis, a merman, naturally. His relationship with his father had never been a great one. They would commonly partake in intense arguments and disputes, ending with one screaming at the other and then going without speaking for days. King wasn't pleased with the role he had been given in Atlantis; he didn't wish to become the successor to the throne of his Father. It had always been available to merpeople to trade their tail for legs; but the act wasn't commonly practiced, since it resulted in total rejection from the remainder of the community. This was something that King didn't mind, so he escaped from the watery palace one day and found the mystical element that claimed the ability to take his tail. It worked, and he soon washed up on a beach, to be rescued by a group of teenagers. SK was still not confident with his walking abilities, which caused him to stumble. Those who had found him assumed that he was drunk and left him on the beach. Starfish King found himself the next morning in the Los Angeles Police Department. Confused, he sprinted, and outran the officers pursuing him, stumbling into the body of Ashley Clearwater, owner of Alpha. She claimed to know him and brought him safely to Starcove, Maine, where he explained to her his situation. She was very curious about his powers. She asked him whether he retained all of the abilities he had as a merman, to which he answered yes. This immediately created a job opening at Alpha, which he denied, because he was confused; and she didn't have his trust. Thus, she kicked him out of her office and told him to have "good luck finding another job for a ex-mermaid with no skills or qualifications in Starcove." He turned around and bumped into Mint Man, who happened to be in the establishment looking for Clearwater. He offered up the Omega Squad business card, and told him to call if he needed help. That night, as Starfish King hid from the rain by sitting under the canopy of a French-style restaurant, Starfish King entered and asked to borrow the phone. The Omega Squad welcomed him in, and he began creating friends with the owner, King Bee II (Beezus Monroe). He enjoyed life there, even enrolling in the public high school; and has lived with the Squad ever since. He suggested that he be called Starfish King, because it fit his powers and was a nearly untraceable code name. He doesn't use his true name, though his friends occasionally shorten Starfish King to 'SK' or just 'King.' When the Omega Squad also adopted an operative named Roar, some of the Intergalactic Council began contact with the Squad. This is how SK met a Council member named Udatos. Udatos was one of the three leading Council members, a mermaid from a distant galaxy. There was a portal to the Council headquarters on Earth, which Starfish King would frequently employ in order to visit her. The two slowly began to develop a friendship. Udatos decided that she would also trade in her tail and revoke her Council membership in order to live with him on Earth. By gaining legs, she would slowly lose all of her powers (ability to breath and see clearly underwater and the ability to communicate with marine life) until she was essentially a total human. Udatos and Starfish King retained a close relationship once she came to Earth for about two weeks. Following that, he unexpectedly dumped her. He confessed that he had been leading her on and never really loved her, and never really had deep feelings for her at all, for that matter. Starfish King severed all ties with Udatos. She had invested all of her trust and her emotions in him, and he had crushed her. These events cause intense guilt on his part, knowing that he is unable to fix them and unable to take back anything they had done. Since these feelings of heartache and contrition had already been associated with Udatos, he found himself unable to communicate with her. He had tried to apologize more than once, but he didn't know how. Thus, he left her all alone in the middle of Maine, her Council membership less than satisfactory and her human condition unchangeable. These events also caused him to have bad feelings with Roar, who wound up being the recipient of Starfish King's newly-found hate. This is when Starfish King began to take up some heavy alcohol usage and when he began to smoke. He spent several months in deep depression, though he seems to have mostly recovered. As far as smoking and drinking go, he doesn't anymore do either of these things frequently. These issues began to be resolved in him when he met Manuel Alanso. Starfish King had been buying cigarettes from a gas station when he was unexpectedly apprehended by BIA forces. They demanded to know the location of Atlantis, which he refused to tell. Thus, they threw him into the depths of a BIA prison and left him for several weeks. Also being held in this dungeon was Manuel Alanso, a powerful pyrokinetic who had refused to work for the BIA. Starfish King spent those weeks in some withdrawal, which caused him to have migraines and occasionally vomit all over himself. Manuel, knowing King's story, was sympathetic, and his presence began to greatly comfort SK and encourage him. After three weeks, the Omega Squad finally found Starfish King and succeeded in his rescue. They also freed Manuel, granting him his freedom and safety from the BIA. After these events, SK's depression slowly receded, and he and Manuel have developed a great friendship. He and Udatos are on speaking terms. Because Udatos has no remaining trust for him, they aren't friends. However, they do care about each other's well-being very much, and would readily defend the other, should the situation arise. With the arrival of the cyborg Labyrinth, Sigmund had begun to develop feelings for her. Their relationship has since been complicated, as she barely comprehends human emotions. Personality Starfish King can be a pretty angry person, though his early childhood relationship with his father is probably to blame for that. He's a bit of a bully when he thinks he can be, especially to Roar. He does recognize that this is wrong, however, and usually apologizes when he recognizes himself being mean. Because he currently lives surrounded by the kind people of the Omega Squad, he is easily and readily forgiven. Their extraordinary good-guy-ness can set off his temper every once in a while, but he sort of hopes they'll rub off on him. Most of the hurt he's had in his life is self-inflicted, which leads to his occasional drinking. SK's sensitive side is usually covered under layers of his personal hurt, but it does occasionally come out in the Omega Squad, when he's around the people he cares for. He has a real soft spot for the ocean, and spends a lot of time on the rocky beaches of the East Coast. He enjoys reading from time to time, although he's very selective about what he reads. Weaknesses Starfish King's guilt can be considered his big weakness. Most of his guilt is over Udatos, but he also has guilt for the way he treats his friends on the Squad, and he is contrite for having left his younger sister with his father. This guilt makes him (if apprehended) a simple target for his enemies, though apprehended him is never an easy task.